How my Shed became the Hub of a Cheese Empire, delivering fabulous Westcountry cheeses to all corners of the land.
How I became Bovey Tracey's Leading Shed-Based Virtual Cheesemonger.
No, really.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Bio-degradable packaging

Our use of bubble wrap in packaging up cheese orders had bothered me for some time. So now I'm delighted to announce that we've moved on, and replaced it with a product called Greenfill. This, I have learned, is technically called a 'void fill' product - i.e it fills the gaps in a box and stops things moving around in transit. For us, this matters especially with soft cheese like Brie, which is in danger of getting a bit squashed on its way to the customer.

The common type of void fill is made of polysterene. Greenfill, however, is made from wheat, which means it's completely bio-degradable and could even be composted.

What does it look like? Well, if you recall the snack called Cheesy Wotsits, the answer is ... a bit like that (only a cream colour). It looks quite ok.

Our only slight reservation about Greenfill related to the small amount of moisture which is sometimes produced around the ice pack - which we also include. If the Greenfill gets wet it can turn soft and squishy. We think we've found a way to get around that, but we're asking all customers at the moment for feedback. At the moment - few weeks in - I'd say it doesn't seem like this is going to be a big problem. And it feels great to be sending less plastic out!